On Dec. 14, 2009, the National Law Journal published an article on the 25 most important legal decisions of the decade. That article is available here. So what are some of them? The National Law Journal lists the top 3 as follows:

1. War on terror tests the limits of lawFrom
telecommunications to transportation, from immigration to
interrogation, from detention to rendition, the war on terrorism
strained the conventional framework of American law. It triggered new
statutes, the expansion of old ones and, in critics' views,
transgressed others.

2. For associates, a time of thrills and chillsBetween
2000 and 2009, law firms doled out jaw-dropping bonuses, lavished
benefits like never before and hiked first-year salaries to a point
that drew the envy of federal judges. The decade also featured mass job
cuts, pay reductions and a decided shift in power for recent law
graduates, many of whom, at the decade's conclusion, were clamoring for
even part-time work at living-wage levels.

Lax
corporate oversight combined with an intense desire to keep company
stock prices high created a climate that allowed executive after
executive to cross the line. Faced with a barrage of high-profile
scandals, prosecutors responded by making corporate fraud a priority.
But in their eagerness to get tough.